Vol 53 No 19 | SOMALIA New president, new laws and old enemies 21st September 2012 The election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud is seen as a sign of stability but the new government’s foundations are far from strong. Meanwhile, Kenya’s military policy is worrying other members of the Amisom alliance. The election process was marred by vote-buying but Western commentators welcomed the outcome, often warmly. However, Ethiopia has concerns about the Islamist background of the new leader Somalis welcomed the election of President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, an outsider with a better reputation than his predecessor, as the first critical test of the new constitution. The...
Vol 53 No 19 | SOMALIA As Amisom targets Kismayo, Al Shabaab changes tactics 21st September 2012 The campaign against Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen is suffering from divisions within the African Union Mission in Somalia and fears over poor tactics, military observers have...
Vol 53 No 18 | SOMALIABRITAIN Monitoring on hold 7th September 2012 Britain’s Department for International Development has taken no step towards setting up the Joint Financial Management Board promised at February’s London Conference on Somalia, Af...
Vol 53 No 16 | SOMALIA August will be hot 3rd August 2012 The elders are warming to their constitutional role, while Kenya weighs up the taking of Kismayo The 135 Somali elders whose role is to appoint a Constituent Assembly have responded to the warm international welcome they have received by showing they want to take at least one ...
Vol 53 No 13 | SOMALIA End of transition looms 22nd June 2012 While Al Shabaab suffers reverses, the government that replaces the TFG in August may turn out to be little different There is a mood of broad optimism among many commanders from the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom) about recent military successes. Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, howe...
Vol 53 No 8 | SOMALIATURKEY Turkish aid 13th April 2012 Turkey is underscoring its engagement in Somalia through development projects in Somaliland and Puntland. It sees the projects as proving to the United States and European Union th...
Vol 53 No 7 | SOMALIAUGANDAANALYSIS Al Shabaab’s waiting game 30th March 2012 Regardless of the recent defeats of Al Haraka al Shabaab al Mujahideen, senior African Union Mission in Somalia commanders privately admit that the next phase of military operations is fraught with potential difficulties. Since forcing Al Shabaab out of Mogadishu in August, five years after Amisom first came to Somalia, the Ugandan People’s Defence Force’s 5,500-strong contingent is slowly moving out to assume control of new territory beyond the capital. Any bolder moves to occupy territory further afield, however, depend on leaving currently-occupied zones to Transitional Federal Government (TFG) soldiers and police, whose competence and reliability are in some doubt. Amisom commanders also worry because communications are scant and coordination absent with the Ethiopian forces to the south. Now that the Kenyan forces have been re-hatted as Amisom, links with them should improve. Lack of trust in the TFG forces who have to take over the Ugandan and Burundian positions when Amisom moves out of Mogadishu is making Amisom tread cautiously. The TFG forces are ...
Vol 53 No 5 | SOMALIA Cashing in on chaos 2nd March 2012 The work of a former government accountant again exposes financial confusion and crime on a grand scale While February’s London Conference on Somalia sought ways out of the military and political quagmire, a former civil servant in the Transitional Federal Government was documenting ...
Vol 53 No 5 | SOMALIA Board to probe finances 2nd March 2012 Privately, diplomats in Mogadishu agree that the reports by Abdirizak Jama ‘Fartaag’ are the best source of financial information about the Mogadishu government.
Vol 53 No 5 | SOMALIABRITAIN Martial music plays in London 2nd March 2012 Whispers of possible negotiations with Al Shabaab were drowned out by the drums of war The Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) may have been hosting the London Conference on Somalia but there was no doubting that Downing Street was in the driving seat.
